Univision Host Fired For Likening First Lady Obama To Cast Of ‘Planet Of The Apes’

Rodner Figueroa accepts the award for outstanding daytime talent in spanish for “El Gordo y la Flaca” at the 41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, June 22, 2014, in Beverly Hills,... Rodner Figueroa accepts the award for outstanding daytime talent in spanish for “El Gordo y la Flaca” at the 41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, June 22, 2014, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A Univision talk show host was fired after he likened Michelle Obama to someone from the cast of ‘Planet Of The Apes.’

Rodner Figueroa, a frequent contributor of “El Gordo Y la Flaca,” said in Spanish, “You know Michelle Obama looks like she is of the cast of “The Planet Of The Apes” as he pointed to a photo of Obama. Figueroa made the comment in a segment about makeup artist Paolo Ballesteros.

Figueroa was quickly fired in response, according to NBC News.

Watch the segment where Figueroa made the comment below:

Correction: This post originally said Figueroa is a co-host of El Gordo Y la Flaca. He is a frequent contributor.

Latest Livewire
68
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for tomj tomj says:

    Adios, Univsion…Hola MundoFox!

  2. I’m so tired of seeing this gracious, beautiful woman trashed by odd nobodies.

  3. I was talking with my best friend and his girlfriend (who is African American) and I remarked that the only difference between Latinos and African Americans is that the European component of their ancestry tends to be from the British Isles wheras ours is Iberian. The rest (West African and Native American) is the same, in varying amounts. [And for those who would deny the African part for Mexicans, they should Read “La Poblacion Negra de Mexico,” by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran].

    The girlfriend then replied, “How I wish that both groups could get along better.”

    Univision:

    Thanks for hiring this guy (evidently without much of an aptitude test). Your firing him is, qualitatively, the same as a clever attorney slandering someone in court, while the judge says, “Disregard that last part”

    Meaning…on deaf ears.

    You’re helping us all out big time.

  4. I effing give up.

  5. Excellent choice for host of new Fox News program: “Fox and Racist Friends”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

62 more replies

Participants

Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mmurdoch Avatar for brooklyndweller Avatar for deckbose Avatar for radicalcentrist Avatar for leftflank Avatar for sundancer Avatar for chammy Avatar for enon Avatar for rcarlosnyc Avatar for trumpdog Avatar for Dawn_Rainbow Avatar for inlabsitrust Avatar for cvilledem Avatar for mantan Avatar for rev Avatar for sonsofares Avatar for lastroth Avatar for tomj Avatar for hora_del_cafe Avatar for robcat2075 Avatar for azjude Avatar for emilianoelmexicano Avatar for NiteFox

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: